skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Conserver society: emerging paradigm of the 1980s. [Three scenarios advanced]

Abstract

As the mass-consumption society enters an age of scarce resources and energy, the notion of the Conserver Society is gaining momentum. With its orientation toward conservation and non-wasteful resource use, it is likely to emerge as a dominant paradigm for the eighties, at the very least as a transitional measure until a more definitive and viable social order can be implemented. The Conserver Society is not likely to be proclaimed by presidential decree in the US or a throne speech in Canada. There will be no fluorish of trumpets and rolling of drums. Instead, its principles will slowly penetrate public consciousness for a very simple reason: they make eminent sense. Conservation - the judicious use of resources - is something people should have been doing all along. More importantly, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the source of energy that is at once cheap, abundant, available, renewable, and ecologically cleanest is not some exotic fuel or complicated process, but conservation itself. Three scenarios for a Conserver Society are presented here: growth with conservation; the affluent stable state; and the frugal society.

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Montreal Univ., Quebec
OSTI Identifier:
6437986
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Futurist; (United States)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 15:2
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY AND ECONOMY; ENERGY CONSERVATION; RESOURCE CONSERVATION; ECONOMIC IMPACT; ENERGY SOURCES; SHORTAGES; SOCIAL IMPACT; 290400* - Energy Planning & Policy- Energy Resources; 291000 - Energy Planning & Policy- Conservation

Citation Formats

Valaskakis, K. Conserver society: emerging paradigm of the 1980s. [Three scenarios advanced]. United States: N. p., 1981. Web.
Valaskakis, K. Conserver society: emerging paradigm of the 1980s. [Three scenarios advanced]. United States.
Valaskakis, K. 1981. "Conserver society: emerging paradigm of the 1980s. [Three scenarios advanced]". United States.
@article{osti_6437986,
title = {Conserver society: emerging paradigm of the 1980s. [Three scenarios advanced]},
author = {Valaskakis, K},
abstractNote = {As the mass-consumption society enters an age of scarce resources and energy, the notion of the Conserver Society is gaining momentum. With its orientation toward conservation and non-wasteful resource use, it is likely to emerge as a dominant paradigm for the eighties, at the very least as a transitional measure until a more definitive and viable social order can be implemented. The Conserver Society is not likely to be proclaimed by presidential decree in the US or a throne speech in Canada. There will be no fluorish of trumpets and rolling of drums. Instead, its principles will slowly penetrate public consciousness for a very simple reason: they make eminent sense. Conservation - the judicious use of resources - is something people should have been doing all along. More importantly, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the source of energy that is at once cheap, abundant, available, renewable, and ecologically cleanest is not some exotic fuel or complicated process, but conservation itself. Three scenarios for a Conserver Society are presented here: growth with conservation; the affluent stable state; and the frugal society.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6437986}, journal = {Futurist; (United States)},
number = ,
volume = 15:2,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1981},
month = {Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1981}
}